The present invention relates to footwear, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing footwear with minimal labor input.
Over the years, footwear components, technology and functionality have evolved substantially. For example, footwear has become more technical and better suited to functioning precisely as desired by wearers. A problem that has plagued the manufacture and assembly of footwear for centuries, however, still remains. The problem is that making and assembling footwear is a labor intensive process. Indeed, over time, footwear manufacture has driven the industry across the world in search of inexpensive labor.
Footwear typically requires substantial labor input on multiple levels. For example, most footwear includes an upper constructed from multiple individual pieces of material. Those pieces of material are cut from stock material. Then they are modified in thickness for the footwear. Then they are joined with one another typically by stitching or cementing to form a three-dimensional upper. The pieces of the upper are also shaped over a last to better define the shape of the upper. After the external pieces of the upper are assembled, a liner typically is then joined with them, again with more stitching or gluing. If the footwear is to include laces, eyelets must be formed on the upper as well. In another step, an outsole is glued or stitched to the upper.
All of the foregoing steps require substantial labor input. Moreover, the amount of labor required is compounded by the fact that every time a new footwear design, style, or size is desired, the manufacturing method must be retooled to accommodate the variations. Unfortunately, while many have tried to address the labor intensity issues concerning footwear, they remain as much a problem now as they did at the turn of the century.
Some manufacturers have addressed the labor intensity of footwear by consolidating the components of an upper. This upper extends from heel to toe, and can be stitched together along a stitch line in the heel, which can reduce labor for stitching. The upper is decorated by embossing the upper material so that it mimics the conventional parts of a shoe. These embossed, discernable parts are painted to further visually separate them from other components, and so that the upper has more character than a simple monolithic-looking body.
The issue with the foregoing construction, however, is that if the material used to construct the upper is not rigid enough it typically lacks structural integrity, and a wearer will feel like they do not have enough support. On the other hand, if the material used to make the upper is too rigid, it is inflexible, and can potentially harm the wearer's foot. Further, because the components are only embossed or painted on the footwear, upon closer inspection, the resultant product can suffer aesthetically.
Accordingly, there remains much room for improvement to provide a footwear and a related manufacturing method that reduce the amount of labor and time input, that decreases pattern retooling costs and time, that is generally flexible to accommodate multiple patterns and sizes of footwear.